Rubikon CBS Brochure

Next Generation Banking Solution

1

Intro The How, When & Where...

For banking and financial services institutions the

drivers that precipitate a review and change of sys-

tems can generally be categorised into a combination

of three main business challenges:

New or enhanced revenue streams

Greater operational efficiency, visibility, risk and

control

Lower total cost of ownership

Rubikon is a next-generation core banking technology

platform that uniquely brings together six key

attributes in a state-of-the art solution in order to

address those three main business challenges:

Integrated multi-channel management

Integrated workflow and business process

management

Integrated business intelligence

Integrated development environment

Modern, clean, new technology and architecture

{Rubikon

www.neptunesoftwareplc.com

Increase efficiency and visibility over business

through seamless integration to other systems

through an open SOA using web services that deliv-

ers a “single version of the truth” to end-users

Significantly decrease cost of ownership through

optimisation of operations, e.g. Lean/Six Sigma

business process improvement initiatives

Reduce costs associated with be-spoke tailoring of

systems that traditionally required software source

code changes using the integrated development

environment

Lower the cost of system delivery through 100%

web-based user interface, zero down-time, and

low-cost scalable hardware and operating system

requirements

High quality, low risk, low cost, quick win imple-

mentation approach

In essence, Rubikon delivers; how it matters, when it

matters, where it matters!

2

In turn, those six key attributes translate into a dozen

significant and rapidly attainable business benefits for

adopters of Rubikon:

New products via mobile devices and the Internet to

generate additional revenue streams

Innovation in delivering value-added services linked

to mobile and Internet channels to generate new

revenue streams

Introduce new and enhanced customer-collabora-

tive processes, e.g. payment transaction authorisa-

tion or validation via mobile and Internet channels

to generate new revenue streams

Reduced overheads and costs of errors thanks to

planned procedures becoming the de-facto execut-

ed processes that can extend outside the organisa-

tion through multi-channel delivery

Dramatically increase staff collaboration and

efficiency through the adoption of “push” process-

ing on an exception basis through integrated work-

flow and business process management

Refine and improve profitability of products, serv-

ices and processes to deliver competitive advantage

using integrated business intelligence

Extend key performance indicator data capture to

boost efficiency and improve regulatory and risk

management using the integrated development en-

vironment with no need for software source code

changes

{Rubikon


3

OverviewRubikon is Neptune’s flagship, “mashup friendly”

platform providing banks and financial institutions of

all sizes with banking systems solutions that enable

the support of an agile enterprise that can reap signifi-

cant benefits from change - turning change into profit.

Rubikon is designed to deliver an industry specific,

closely coupled, business-oriented and collaborative

framework for financial services. Rubikon’s unique

Financial Service Oriented Architecture (FSOA)

facilitates rapid incremental deployment as; either

a complete universal banking system, or a series of

special-purpose applications that collaborate with

the existing infrastructure to deliver new products

or services, addressing new channels to market, or

streamline currently inefficient or high-risk processes.

This approach allows banks and financial institutions

to achieve accelerated returns on investment and gain

competitive advantage.

Each of Rubikon’s components is closely-coupled to

the others, enabling Rubikon to simultaneously pro-

vide an environment that is:

Customer-centric

Business-service and Workflow oriented

Event driven

Easy and fast to develop new products and services

Channel agnostic

Intuitive and collaborative for users

Management information rich and compliant

{Rubikon


Customer Relationship Management

Business Intelligence, Risk Mitigation, Compliance & Financial Control

Products & Services Factory

Business Process Workflow & Case Management

Events & Limits Monitor

User Collaboration Tasks & Alerts

Channel Manager

Figure 1. Rubikon FSOA

4www.neptunesoftwareplc.com

The Rubikon technology platform is based on

“real” new technology, 100% Java and J2EE, adopting

open standards and an SOA architecture, which brings

scalability and agility while delivering process excel-

lence to the business.

The use of J2EE enables the standardisation of a

number of different technologies to create a robust

platform for building distributed, multi-tier enterprise

applications. In addition to an online, real-time gen-

eral ledger, Rubikon supports high-volume transaction

processing and provides embedded workflow manage-

ment.

By using an externalised rules engine, Rubikon

enables financial services institutions to improve

operational efficiency with increased automation and

without compromise in performance or scalability.

It reduces “time-to-market” for new products and

services, improving client satisfaction, and gaining

competitive advantage.

Rubikon offers an effective combination of scalability,

performance, online database, and no end-of-day

requirement; enabling financial services institutions

to give superior 24/7 services to their clients in a

multi-channel environment, for faster implementation

and cost reduction.


Rubikon covers a full range of core banking functionality that

can be implemented in a modular fashion to suit each financial

services instituition’s specific needs.

Figure 2. Rubikon functional Overview


Rubikon Core

Workflow & Case Management

Rubikon Workflow management, in conjunction with

its rules engine, enables financial institutions to

define customised business processes such as loan

origination, credit approval, loan set-up, drawdown,

and transaction approval - as well as account open-

ing, ‘Know Your Customer’, and case management.

Unlike existing legacy systems that still dictate how

and when financial institutions operate, Rubikon’s

workflow engine enables organisations, in line with

their business needs and compliance, to decide how

business processes are implemented and monitored.

Financial institutions can define alerts, notifications,

and invoke tasks at each stage in a workflow proc-

ess. Built on a configurable and integrated platform,

Rubikon also has the ability to record and track cus-

tomer queries and complaints received regardless

of the channel used by the customer.

Customer Management

The customer-centric architecture offers a unified

view of the bank’s customers across channels and

products – providing valuable, real-time access to

information relating to client activities and profile.

It supports customer interaction through a number

of channels such as web pages, email, automated

telephone or SMS. Financial Institutions can lever-

age this information to offer cross-selling opportu-

nities, new and innovative products and services to

their customers. Figure 3. Workflow & Case Management


General ledger

This is a flexible integrated multi-currency, multi-

branch, multi-entity system that can handle large

volumes of transactions. The general ledger provides

a flexible chart of accounts, organisational structuring,

and a high level of automation with online real-time

transaction updates. Financial institutions have the

ability to apply or define different revaluation schemes

across different operations and channels.

Product Definition Framework

A flexible product-definition framework based on tem-

plates, business rules, and workflows enables users

to create new products, modify existing ones quickly

to deal with market demands. Products can also be

deployed to specific branches or business units.

Transaction Posting Engine

Rubikon’s online transaction processing, batch post-

ing, memo posting, and back-value transactions

facilities are available for a range of transactions.

Data integrity has been developed to support trans-

action processing 24X7, as well as providing trans-

action configuration flexibility. Financial institutions

can benefit from Rubikon’s external rules engine

to create new or modify existing policies and rules

upon which new transactions and behaviour can be

defined.

User Defined Screen Facility

Financial institutions can define and design new

screens without the intervention of the solution

provider. Additional fields can be added to existing

screen and are reflected in the database.


Reports Facility

Rubikon offers comprehensive reports at various

levels, including budgeting and forecasting, cost of

funds, activity based costing, asset liability man-

agement – that are fully supported by comprehen-

sive customisable report-generating and business

intelligence tools.

Security Management

The security features of Rubikon contain both ad-

ministrative and operational types. Administration

types are used to set-up the operational security

in Rubikon, whilst operational types determine the

runtime access to different parts of the system so-

lution based on user roles. These features also con-

trol the restrictions in terms of monetary values to

users of the system.

Operational Services

Operational services are available 24/7 to support

transaction processing across disparate channels

and the running of various batch jobs. An end-of-

day batch run, in today’s environment is a costly

event for most financial services institutions. Often

key banking system services have to be stopped

to perform these daily administrative and financial

tasks. Rubikon eliminates the traditional end-of-

day batch processing. It allows a seamless transi-

tion from one day to the next without having to

deny services – offering true 24/7 availability and

has no restriction on GL updates.

Figure 4. Reports facility


Reference Data

Developing high-quality reference data is a constant

challenge for financial institutions and an essential

first step in creating an enterprise data management

strategy. Rubikon Reference Data allows organisations

to create one trusted source of cleansed, complete,

consistent data. Reference Data categories include:

security, configuration, business rules, customers,

securities, legal data, product (definitions), book

definitions and book hierarchy, accounting, toolkit

configuration and Workflow.

External Rules Engine

The Rubikon externalised rules engine provides finan-

cial services institutions with controls and the flex-

ibility to change the operating rules, without recourse

to the software vendor. It enables them to align prod-

ucts, business processes, and bring differentiated new

products to market fast, as well as supporting the

management of regulatory policies and dealing with

consolidation, mergers, and acquisitions.

Alerts

Rubikon provides various types of real-time alerts and

notification schemes as part of the built-in workflow

module in order to notify customers or employees

about events that require their attention, for example

when an authorisation is required or a customer has

missed a payment.

File Import/ Export

Rubikon can import or export data from flat files,

using ASCII, and XML formats without further cus-

tomisation; alternatively, financial institutions may

apply their own formats. Figure 5. External Rules Engine


Rubikon RetailRetail functionality

Teller - Based on automated business processes,

tellers can perform their daily tasks quickly and

efficiently. It supports cash drawers, local and foreign

currency deposit and withdrawal transactions, pur-

chase and sale of foreign currency, traveller cheques,

advice generation and much more.

Current Accounts - Rubikon current account is

a deposit product that can be structured in various

ways. Some of the features include Cheque Process-

ing, Overdraft Facilities, Interest bearing (Debit and

Credit Interest), Charge application and waiver, trans-

action restrictions.

Cheque processing - Rubikon Cheque processing

includes chequebook type creation, chequebook or-

dering, chequebook issuing, customer used cheques

tracking. Cheque based transactions handled in

Rubikon include third-party cheques, on-us cheques,

Banker’s cheques, travellers’ cheques.

Deposits - Rubikon offers a wide range of demand

deposit accounts in nominated currencies, with

individual, joint or company ownership, with support

for cheque and cheque book management including

single, joint or multiple signatories, service cards,

statements account service charges both periodic

and irregular, credit and debit interest, standing

orders, direct debits, and balance sweeps within the

specified accounts at periodic intervals.


Collateral - Rubikon covers collaterals, securities or

guarantees pledged for the repayment of a loan if one

cannot procure enough funds to repay.

Term Deposits - Rubikon supports term deposit,

certificates of deposit, and notice savings accounts,

and accounts associated with terms and conditions

regarding the notice period before funds can be with-

drawn, or partly withdrawn, or where the number of

withdrawals is limited. It covers penalty charges for

early withdrawal.

Loans - Rubikon provides a flexible framework

supporting credit applications, retail and corporate

lending, including loan origination, loan set-up, repay-

ments scheduling and rescheduling, disbursement,

lifecycle and penalty processing, delinquency and past

due management, identifying non-performing assets,

provisioning, customer and group limits monitoring,

insurance and collateral management and reporting.

All processings can be enabled and monitored through

workflow and the externalised rules engine.

Funds Transfer - Funds transfer facilities between

customers’ accounts are available with definable

straight through processing.

Remittances - Rubikon covers a wide range of remit-

tance or cross-boarder transfer facilities, such as local

and international SWIFT tranfers, direct debit authori-

ties, inter-bank and intra-bank transfers, using when

possible, straight through processing.

Standing orders - Any person or company with a

current account at a bank can give a standing order

instruction. The standing orders can be managed

online. Standing orders can be created for utility pay-

ments, credit card payments and other standing order

types for such as account transfers or school fees.


Direct debits - Direct Debits are a simple way to pay

bills or make regular or occasional payments to any

kind of organisation that accepts direct debit pay-

ments. Direct debit mandates can be set up for utility

payments, credit card payments and other direct debit

types. As an extra control over possible excess pay-

ment requests, a maximum amount can be optionally

defined against the payment schedule.

Clearing & Settlement - Rubikon handles clearing

and settlement of paper based and electronic pay-

ments through platforms such as RTGS, SWIFT and

automated clearing houses, and generates related

reports.

Advanced Retail

Internet Banking - Rubikon Internet Banking has

been designed to make online banking experience

secure, easy and efficient. The bank’s customers can

perform a range of transactions via the net such as

balance information on savings, checking, and loan

accounts, pay bills online, initiate stop payments,

change password, perform account transfers and

schedule recurring transfers.

SMS Terminal - Rubikon SMS banking is based on

exchange of SMS messages between the customer

and the bank. It saves customers the time and effort

of going to the bank branches, as the customer can

conduct transactions from their GSM phone, irrespec-

tive of the service provider. Rubikon SMS Banking is

cost effective and is available 24 hours a day.

Biometrics - Rubikon supports industry standard

external devices for biometrics, MICR readers, card

readers and image scanners.

Loyalty Points - Loyalty points are supported for any

type of product within Rubikon, enabling banks to

reward loyal customers and in turn improve customer

retention.

Leasing & Hire Purchase - Rubikon offers leasing

and hire purchase facilities, which allow a business to

use an asset over a fixed period, in return for regular

payments.

13

EUROPE

AFRI CA

ASIA


Rubikon Trade ServicesA fully-integrated application meeting the needs of

both local and global banks, Rubikon’s trade Serv-

ices module supports all trade finance processing

functionality. It is designed to satisfy and support

the processing and reporting needs for documentary

credits, standby letters of credit, collections, bonds

& guarantees, shipping guarantees, reimbursements,

remittances, participations & syndications and loans.

It also automatically captures and generates SWIFT

messages and documents.

Rubikon Trade Finance makes decision-taking and risk

assessment easier, since it takes over the bulk of the

administrative procedures, at the same time giving

comprehensive information online. Management

information is available immediately through online

enquiries or customised reports. It boosts productivi-

ty, thus enhancing the options of processing increased

business volumes without impact on staffing. Rubikon

Trade Finance provides total security and comes with

easy auditing of all processes.

The products are component-based and facilitate

the processing of trade finance products and related

activities for all parties involved. This is achieved

by automating all aspects of the business flow and

minimising the need for data entry at all stages of

the process. The overall design allows standardised

processing whilst maintaining the flexibility to tailor

the system according to regional needs and require-

ments. Rubikon Trade Finance is user-friendly and

feature-rich. It enables management to fully moni-

tor and control the workflow. The system is seam-

lessly integrated with SWIFT, Telex and document

management systems. It’s a complete end-to-end

solution, covering every step from customer input

via the Rubikon e-Banking module through to a

bank’s back-office.


Figure 6. Rubikon Trade Finance


Rubikon MortgagesRubikon supports the creation of mortgages from a

wide variety of channels – via mortgage brokers,

internet, mobile, telephone, iDTV, post or from a

branch with full “Know Your Customer” functionality.

It also supports the entire mortgage lifecycle - from

origination to maturity - offering customers a wide

range of products. This includes various repayment

options ranging from traditional tables, linear and

interest-only mortgages through to current account

and equity release mortgages sourced locally or inter-

nationally in any currency.

Interest can be calculated on any period from daily

through to annually – with fixed, stepped, tracker,

discounted or capped interest rate options – and

includes the ability to support offset mortgages on

any repayment method. The bank can choose to offer

flexible mortgages with cash backs, portability, over/

under payments and mortgage holidays. Systems

features include mortgage calculators and illustra-

tions that link through automatically to the origination

process – and mortgage servicing so that customer

and application is captured once.


Rubikon TreasuryNeptune Rubikon is a web based service-oriented,

Treasury, Securities & Derivatives solution with com-

prehensive STP front to back office capabilities, cross-

product processing of a wide range of financial instru-

ments. In an integrated system, it can process plain

vanilla and complex derivatives, fixed income, and

equity and treasury trades.

Neptune Rubikon Treasury combines integration

across financial instruments across the different func-

tions within a financial institution. As a result, it is

the ideal solution for small to medium financial in-

stitutions looking to reduce costs through adopting a

centralized approach to business processes, system

operations and data consolidation.

Rubikon Treasury functionalities include:

Core Treasury

Trading & back office processing

Capital markets

Cash management

Middle office risk & control

Market data analysis & trade pricing

Limits monitoring

Back office operations

Settlements & confirmations

Accounting

Regulatory compliance

Reporting & Enquiries


Figure 7. Rubikon Treasury


Business Intelligence

Figure 8. Rubikon Banking Intelligence

Rubikon’s business intelligence module provides

critical business information in a dashboard style

view, allowing authorised staff a comprehensive over-

view of the health of the financial services institution

or business entity at a glance. Graphic displays, in

conjunction with the use of special colour coding and

icons, ensure that the information is clearly and easily

understood.

Scorecards assist in monitoring the financial services

institution’s key performance indicators (KPI’s) that

may be associated with different aspects of the finan-

cial services institution – financial, customers, busi-

ness processes, learning, and growth. The business

intelligence module allows the goals for each KPI to

be separately defined. It also obtains and compares

the actual performance data with the stored targets

and where necessary, automatically generates alerts

to areas of the financial services institution that may

require the management’s attention.


Channel ManagerRubikon Channel Manager acts as an interface between

any retail banking application and its external delivery

channels like ATM, SMS, mobile and Internet banking.

It allows the administrative user to manage easily the

e-banking environment, which encapsulates custom-

ers, accounts, branches, services, currencies and other

required elements. Rubikon’s flexible architecture

makes it seamless to add new channels. The Channel

Manager ensures that customers experience a consist-

ent level of business across all delivery channels.

Administration module - The Administration module

utilises the business logic of the core business

management system and handles all administrative

and back office configurations for the e-Banking

solution.

Channel Integrator - The Integrator Service

provides a transparent connection point for the

channels and the core application. It also provides

a transparent communication between the

external channels and the core system. The Inte-

grator Service is packaged into eight major serv-

ices: security, accounts, transfer, post, cheque,

bills, correspondence and customer.

Figure 9. Channel Manager


Technology PlatformJ2EE Technology

Rubikon is 100% Java and embraces J2EE standards

and web services for integration. The system’s modular

architecture and integrated technologies ensure busi-

ness requirements can be developed and incorporated

as needed, minimising project risks, and reducing

total cost of ownership. The use of J2EE standardises

a number of different technologies to provide a robust

platform for building distributed multi-tier enterprise

banking applications. Some of the advantages of this

approach include cross-platform portability, availability

of open-source libraries, a large server-side de-

ployment base, and coverage for most W3C standards.

Software products developed under these standards,

rather than being inhibitors, quickly become

faci l i tators of business change.

Open Standards

Rubikon’s adoption of open standards enables

inter-operability and integration between applica-

tions. The open design also allows financial services

institutions to make the best choices in terms of data-

base, application servers, and hardware platform.

Service Oriented Architecture (SOA)

As business and IT move forward, SOA enables finan-

cial services institutions to increase competitive

advantage and build a sustainable business by accel-

erating innovation, capturing new revenue, developing

operational efficiencies and empowering staff.

It allows financial services institutions to link stand-

alone processes to make changes faster and facilitate

seamless design and execution across the financial

services institution’s traditional boundaries - and to

include its financial partners. Figure 10. Service Oriented Architecture (SOA)


Browser-Based

The browser-based nature of Rubikon means no client

installation is required and makes propagation of new

changes fast and seamless. It employs AJAX technol-

ogy to provide the user with a rich and user-friendly

interface.

Security

Rubikon’s integrated security management system

protects financial institutions from unauthorised

application access and malicious activity. The archi-

tecture ensures that business functionality is securely

maintained and is only available to authorised users.

The system provides sufficient flexibility to allow

financial institutions to include third party authen-

tication services or third party directory services if

required. It includes the following components:

A scalable secure service for storing and managing

user information

A runtime model for user authentication

An administration model enabling administrators

to selectively delegate access rights for different

modules and activities across the system

Scalability, Performance & High Availability

The Rubikon architecture supports a clustered hard-

ware deployment to provide scalability, availability,

and fault tolerance. As the financial institution grows,

servers can be added to the cluster and the architec-

ture automatically balances the load between the serv-

ers, providing faster access and improved availability

to the customer. This architecture enables Rubikon

to provide these services even in the event of server

failure or loss of network connections. It also means

that a clustered partition will continue to function in

isolation until the complete cluster is reconnected.

High availability enables the system to continue to

provide services even when an individual server fails.

A clustered environment is also useful for system ad-

ministrators, who can selectively shut down servers

for maintenance and up-dates without adversely

affecting the services provided to customers.


Database

Rubikon uses Oracle 10g RDBMS as its database and

delivers high performance and scalability on Windows,

Linux, and UNIX servers. It can also reduce total cost

of ownership by moving from a single server to a clus-

tered environment without changing a single line of

code. To provide fault tolerance and scalability,

Oracle’s Real Application Cluster option supports the

deployment of a single database across a group of

servers.

Application Servers

Rubikon has been developed and thoroughly tested

on BEA WebLogic Server 9.2 developed to support

mission critical applications and service-oriented

architectures. The WebLogic enterprise-grade kernel

keeps applications up and running even when deploy-

ing a new version, changing the server configuration

or failing over within or across data centres.

Business Process Execution Language (BPEL)

Business Process Execution Language (BPEL) can be

used for composition, orchestration, and coordination

of web services.

Neptune Software has delivered mission-critical core

systems to over 65 financial institutions and has the

proven experience needed to meet the requirements of

internationally recognised banking practices. In 2008,

Neptune achieved a top 5 ranking in the IBS Sales

League of international banking systems vendors.

Neptune has 6 locations in EMEA, a development cen-

tre in Chennai and a growing global partner network.

Since 2005, Neptune has demonstrated continuous

process improvement by regularly passing ISO

9001:2000 TickIT audits. Since 2006, Neptune has

been awarded the highest available rating, 4 Stars,

by CGAP (an organisation housed at the World Bank).

This rating is based on functional coverage of the

applications and customer feedback in terms of projects

being delivered on time and within budget.

Neptune has a solid track record of financial stability

and profitability with sustained re-investment into

research and development of its products. This has

allowed the development of Rubikon, a brand new

world-class banking technology platform.

LONDON, UK

Tel: +44 (0) 20 8680 0239

Fax: +44 (0) 20 8253 5920

NAIROBI, KENYA

Tel: +254 (20) 2719491

Fax: +254 (20) 2719309

LAGOS, NIGERIA

Tel: +234-1-279 8030

Fax: +234-1-587 0420

CHENNAI, INDIA

Tel: +91 (44) 4266 6015

Fax: +91 (44) 4266 6021

JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA

Tel: +27 (0)11 465 7253

Fax: +27 86 5209127

KAMPALA, UGANDA

Tel: +256-41-237781

Fax: +256-41-237782

www.neptunesoftwareplc.com [email protected]

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